The University of South Carolina Office of the Vice President for Research and South Carolina Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Office are pleased to invite faculty, students, postdocs and others from all 28 EPSCoR jurisdictions to join us at the 26th NSF EPSCoR Conference in Columbia, South Carolina, Sunday, October 27 through Wednesday, October 30, 2019.
Join Us: SC Faculty, Staff and Students
All conference events will be held in Columbia, most at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, making this national conference accessible for faculty, staff and students from UofSC system campuses and other colleges and universities across the Palmetto State.
We encourage faculty, staff and students from all of South Carolina’s colleges and universities, including historically black institutions and technical colleges engaged in NSF EPSCoR programs, to join us in October.
Conference Theme
The conference theme, Science and Partnerships Across Disciplinary Boundaries, will allow for discussion and workshops on many topics of vital importance to researchers, including:
- Investment: Promoting transdisciplinary research and education through NSF EPSCoR investments
- Public-private partnerships: Growing public-private partnerships to enhance economic competitiveness
- STEM partnerships: Broadening participation in STEM through partnerships
- Big Data: Harnessing big data from a transdisciplinary perspective, crossing boundaries
- Transdisciplinary Research: Evaluating transdisciplinary research and conveying its importance to a broader audience
Conference Schedule
The conference will kick off on Sunday, October 27, with a welcome dinner at the beautiful, recently renovated Columbia Museum of Art. The main conference will be held on Monday and Tuesday, October 28 and 29, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Event organizers are planning an exciting slate of speakers, panels, workshops and poster sessions targeting students and researchers.
Student Sessions
Each day, the conference will feature special programming aimed at undergraduate and graduate students. Students are welcome at all main conference events, and will find many other sessions of interest, as well. The Office of the Vice President for Research strongly encourages UofSC students to register for and attend the NSF EPSCoR Conference to learn from top researchers and scholarly professionals from around the country. Conference organizers are fleshing out session details, so please check the online schedule regularly for the latest updates.
Student sessions by conference day:
- Monday Morning: Best practices for building a professional network
- Monday Afternoon: How to write winning grant proposals
- Tuesday Morning: Publishing in high-impact journals
- Tuesday Afternoon: Research careers within and outside of academia
Researcher Sessions
Conference sessions will be geared toward a broad audience of researchers and others who support research within their EPSCoR jurisdictions. Throughout the conference schedule, organizers have emphasized hot topics in the research community related to the official conference themes. On conference day two (Tuesday), conference organizers have woven in several sessions on research communications. These sessions are designed to help attendees at every career level build up their communications and promotional skills to get the word out about their work.
Research communications sessions on Tuesday:
- Communicating EPSCoR research to a wider audience
- Communicating science online and through social media platforms
- Best practices for communicating the value and importance of EPSCoR
Presentation Opportunities
Conference organizers are seeking presentation abstracts from undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and principal investigators (or their designees) working on projects funded by NSF EPSCoR grants. Most presenters will deliver poster presentations. Some NSF EPSCoR grant recipients (or their designees) will give three-minute lightning talks.
Poster Presentations:
- Undergraduate students
- Graduate students
- Postdoctoral scholars
- RII Track-2 PIs
- RII Track-4 PIs
- Others
Three-Minute Lightning Talk Presentations:
- RII Track-1 PIs (or their designees) – one presenter per jurisdiction
- A few RII Track-2 PIs will be selected to present a lightning talk
Abstract submission will be open from Monday, July 1 through Friday, August 23. All abstracts must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, August 23.
Register Now for Early Bird Pricing
Registration for the 26th NSF EPSCoR Conference is now open.
Registration Type and Applicable Dates |
Rate |
|
Early Conference Registration |
$300.00 |
|
Regular Conference Registration |
$350.00 |
|
PD/PA/EOD Meeting Registration |
$75.00 |
3 July 2019